


all these years

by constellations (allyoop)



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Bittersweet, Boyfriends, Death from Old Age, Happy Ending, Honeymoon, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Love, M/M, Marriage, Romance, Sad, Wakes & Funerals, so much love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2013-12-31
Packaged: 2018-01-06 23:03:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1112554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allyoop/pseuds/constellations
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They have all the time in the world and they choose to spend it side by side. </p><p>(I absolutely promise you that although it is tagged "major character death" that this it is a death from old age and not nearly as awful as it sounds!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	all these years

_I have a theory_.

Jim rolled over in their bed, makeshift from grass and a blanket of dark night sky. It was warm, whether from the balmy wind off the sea or the way his body folded into Bones’, not knowing where one began and the other ended. Chest to chest, he looked into his boyfriend’s eyes, seeing his own face reflected against a map of stars. He wrapped his fingers into Bones’, letting nothing but the ebb and flow of their breathing fall in the space where his words should be.  
  
 _Penny for your thoughts?  
_  
Jim just smiled at Bones and kissed him softly, promising _later, later_ under a cloak of stars that don’t let him tell any lies.

 

 _You know the big bang?_  
  
His sweat dropped like tears, tracing paths down his naked skin and wetting the sheets he was tangled in, leaving marks of _Jim Kirk_ in everything he touched. He reached out blindly, finding Bones breathing heavily beside him. Their hands clasped and Bones let out a breathy laugh.  
  
 _Are you making a terrible joke?_  
  
Jim edged his way closer, feeling slick and achy in all the most wonderful ways. He flopped against Bones’ shoulder, aiming to plant a kiss and only successful in bonking his forehead against his arm.  
  
 _No Bones, like the science-y Big Bang._  
  
 _I’m a doctor, not a scientist._  
  
 _But Bones, have you ever thought-_  
  
 _Really Jim? Now? Your bedside manner is terrible._  
  
Jim buried himself further into the crook of Bones’ collarbone, feeling terribly comfortable even covered in a mix of fluids that aren’t proper to talk about at the dinner table. He laughed again, remembering that this is the scent, the ache, the warmth that he can wake up to every morning now, and not just on their honeymoon.

 

_I don’t know exactly how we began but I do know what I believe._

Georgia had never looked more beautiful than on a late summer afternoon, with trees yawning and stretching as their first branches shift golden. Each year the peaches seem bigger and the sunrises seem brighter but Jim knows he’ll think the same next summer. He didn’t usually look so long or listen so hard. Every cricket song seemed an important soundtrack to a day where every hour should be counted. And they were. Each clock chime felt heavy with possibilities now that time seemed to be slipping away. His hand met Bones’ across his rocking chair, the creaking of the old Georgian wood echoing like a reminder of his age.

_Hasn’t anyone ever taught you to finish a thought, kid?_

_Haven’t been a kid for a while, Bones._

He brushed back a wisp of hair from Jim’s brow, going slowly more to savor the moment than from effort.

_You’ve always been a kid at heart, Jim. An immature childish brat._

_Aww, Bones. That’s almost sentimental._

Jim kissed the hand that still wavered on his cheek. Softy, for everything in this moment felt so fragile.

 

_When the world was born, we were made near each other._

It wasn’t raining. Not because the sky couldn’t feel what Jim felt. And not because the somber faces needed any more reasons to drip with wet. A funeral needn’t always be shrouded in grey skies and clouds that opened up with their own falls of tears. Jim stood hunched but resolutely without help, wanting to deliver the eulogy on his own two feet. The sun had risen in full glory; making the wrinkles on his comrades’ faces seem softened in the bright light. It felt like a flashback, a wrinkle in time showing him what used to be. The sweet smell of peaches drew him back to the present even as his hand came to rest on the casket lid.

_I do not know everything. I have no answers although I have searched for the right words for years._

Jim smiled through the tightness in his chest, letting the warmth of the sun on his back recall the warmth of his favorite pair of hands on his shoulders.  
 _Space is darkness and silence, as our favorite doctor used to say. But he learned, just as I learned, just as we all, that space is possibilities. There are no limits to where we can go or who we can be. We can be anyone and we can be_ with _anyone. And I am so happy, so immeasurably happy that Bones picked me._

He looked down on the casket, taking a moment to taste the words on his tongue. On this beautiful and terrible day, somewhere between the final arrangements and the first shuttle of friends to arrive, in the time he was alone with the sun glinting off the wood in a way that was too pretty to be tinged with so much sadness, he found them. The right words.

 _I believe now that he would always pick me. An old theory comes to mind: the Big Bang. A world of atoms spinning and whirling and forming. I believe the little speck called Leonard and the slightly more dashing speck called Jim Kirk_ He paused, letting the chuckles roll through the audience. It felt like a breath that everyone needed. _Our little atoms bumped around each other right at the beginning. And so we were always meant to find each other again. Laws of attraction. Or something. I never said I was a scientist._

 

~*~*~*~

 

_We just keep coming together don’t we?_

_You saying something lewd?_

_No, Bones, I just meant…_

He bumped their hands together experimentally, relishing in every touch that felt so new, in every tingle of heat from skin on skin. It was so chaste, them just sitting side-by-side on bare grass, watching a real Earth sunset for the first time in god knows when. He smiled wide, face sunnier than the star in front of them, and Bones couldn’t help but return the smile.

_We’ve got years behind us already. But we’re doing it right this time, yeah?_

_You want roses, teddy bears, and promise rings, kid? You got ‘em._

_A ring? Why, Mr. Southern Gentleman, you move so fast! My heart can’t keep up!_

Bones pulled him into a kiss, their first real non-drunken, non-aggravated kiss. Jim pulled on Bones’ jacket, tugging him down onto the grass beside him.

_And we’ve got all these years in front of us._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! This is my little love letter to McKirk.
> 
> Kudos and comments are appreciated! :)


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